Glittermouse (Annabeth Orton) graduated in Fine Art (Sculpture) from Kingston University in 2002 and went on to teach a range of 2D and 3D processes at Further Education colleges in London and Manchester for over 12 years. Her broad practice including drawing and painting, traditional and digital illustration, interactive multimedia installations and even a craft stall in Camden Market, often reflected a lifelong interest in engaging with environments and people. This was particularly manifest in work between 2010 and 2014 when she initiated a series of projects exploring public ownership and social cohesion whilst studying an MA in 3D Design at Manchester Metropolitan University. These open participation projects developed into a series of PlaceMaking Workshops with corresponding exhibitions, functioning as a vehicle to explore how cultural background influences use of public space and personal happiness by engaging with student groups as far afield as China.

In 2015 she returned to a more aesthetic form of creativity and produced a series of canvases titled The Serenity Series after being inspired by a new kind of inspirational environment; Buddhist temple complexes in China and Japan. This work marked a significant personal turning point as well as a creative one. Following a Church of England upbringing which she rejected in her early teens as a proud atheist, believing that the clinical certainty of western science would eventually explain all apparent mysteries in both the physical world and the human psyche, a religious life was wholly unexpected. After accidentally stumbling onto this new path of personal discovery following a drop-in meditation class in February 2015, she eventually conceded that dismissing spirituality was rather a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Accepting the value to be found in engaging with a religion that didn’t require her to accept the existence of a creator deity, she continued to visually reference Buddhist iconography and philosophies in the Impermanence Series, (exhibited in November 2015 at Manchester Buddhist Centre), and began questioning other aspects of her apparently settled life, finally leaving the education sector in September 2015. In July 2016, she became a mitra of the Triratna Buddhist Order, publically confirming her commitment to make the associated teachings central to her life.

During these months of rapid change, she also completed a TEFL course before seeking to express her passion for education as a self-funded volunteer with Young Indian Futures. This exploration of an alternative way to a meaningful contribution to the world resulted in five and a half months living at Aryaloka Computer Education Centre, a Buddhist social project in Nagpur that offers subsidised education to some of India’s poorest and most excluded young people. Though challenging, this was an important step in integrating her teaching experience with her spiritual aspirations and the details of this adventure can be found on the blog page Maggamouse, a writing project initiated specifically to record and share her experiences with Triratna in India.

You can still find her creative projects on this site, but she is currently taking a break as she engages further with an entirely new direction. After a five month intensive residential Dharma study course at Adhisthana in Hereford, she began managing the finances of Taraloka Buddhist Retreat Centre for Women in Wrexham, Wales, from January 2018. She is continuing to study and practice the Dharma as she works towards ordination with Triratna.

As well as the visual and poetry projects archived on this site, you may also find sporadic arts updates on the Glittermouse blog page. It is also possible to browse her old running blog and find a link to her vegan cooking site, both hobbies which have justified their own web spaces at times!

I'm not leading workshops or accepting commissions at present but do feel free to get in touch with any questions!